Peter Sharpe

I've seen many of those bags used as camera bags, in fact I'm currently using one myself. They're so cheap that it's worth buying two or three and filling them up as grab bags, for various types of fishing at a moment's notice.

The Trent, if nobody else was allowed to fish it.

To be honest, that mill pool looks completely silted up and might only have six inches of water over six feet of mud.

Thanks to those who remembered the title of Screaming Reels. Now I'm wondering what Strike was. Was it that horribly contrived match fishing series? I don't think anybody has mentioned The Fishing Race - so there, I've mentioned it. I thought Catching The Impossible was kind of okay, but I rarely want to watch it again, whereas Passion For Angling stands the test of time. Chris Yates annoyed me at times and nobody now likes to mention B*b J**mes, but I've actually become rather fond of Bernard Cribbins' softly spoken commentary. I'll admit to enjoying one or two of Robson Green's programme's, but mostly I'm appalled at the primitive attitudes of some of the contributors and of the appalling treatment dished out to the fish. River Monsters is much better because it manages to be completely original. I've kept my recording of the fascinating one about giant freshwater eels.

I remember getting a letter published in Angling Times many, many years ago, which I felt obliged to write praising The Secret Lake. Funnily enough, when it was repeated years later it didn't seem to have the same magic. I've been trying to remember a program on Channel 4, which was a real mixed bag of fishing interludes. Parts of it were really irritating and many people didn't like it at all, but I have a feeling that it might now be looked upon a little more kindly. One on its sections featured Neville Fickling and Dave Moore fishing on the Middle Level for zander. They were there for two days and absolutely nothing happened whatsoever. Another segment featured mullet fishing at a sewage outfall. One of the least liked set pieces was the appearance of a be-tweeded old duffer, who I assume was attempting to take off Terry Thomas. I'm sure that the production company is still producing programmes for Channel 4, because their style of punctuating scenes with graphis is very distinctive. Could the programme possibly have been called Strike, or is that another that has been lost in the mists of time?

I was looking forward to this and had recorded it. I really don't like to be critical, but I quickly found myself forwarding by 30 seconds and then quickly gave up. John Bailey just wouldn't shut up and started to get on my nerves. I would genuinely rather have had the more laid back Bernard Cribbins as Crabtree - they must have had to carry the script in a wheelbarrow. I suppose you have to make allowances for the low budget, but this came across like one of those cheap angling videos that you might pick up in Tescos. I know they could hardly afford Hugh Miles, but it was very poorly produced, so that just for once, it would have been far better to have been made by the production company that used to make those rather gimmicky angling shows on Channel 4 (I forget the name, but they used quirky animations between the different segments). Those programmes weren't to everyone's taste, but they knew how to mix up the visuals. A few more of Bernard Venables' original illustrations would have helped to break up the monotony and some underwater shots would have helped. Anything to lessen Bailey's non-stop, condescending patter. The worst crime was that it totally failed to capture the atmosphere in the way that Passion For Angling carried off so successfully. The budget was obviously a big constraint here, but I couldn't help thinking it was an opportunity wasted. The subject is simply crying out for the Chris Yates and Hugh Miles treatment. This seemed more like Bailey's own pet project and I'm afraid he blew it.

Where do you fish for dinks?

On returning after a long absence, it seems as if the site has lost all of its original character and has become absolutely obliterated with product placement and obtrusive advertising. In other words, it reminds me of why I gave up buying fishing magazines.

Many years ago, there were letters in the local Stamford Mercury, complaining about the aggressive behaviour of the drakes on the Welland at Stamford Meadows, which were aggressively raping the female ducks while holding their heads under the water. They demanded that something should be done to protect them, so I felt obliged to write in and led my support. " SIR - I thoroughly sympathise with last weeks correspondent's distress at witnessing the barbaric behaviour of the drakes on Stamford Meadows. Although this is clearly criminal behaviour, the police say their hands are tied, as potential witnesses feel too intimidated to come forward. On the one occasion that an attempt was made to prosecute, the case was eventually dropped when the victim failed to pick out any of the accused in an identity parade. An attempt was made to proceed with the lesser charge of lewd behaviour in a public place, but the Crown Prosecution Service decided that it wasn't in the public interest to continue, so that all charges were eventually dropped. Personally, I blame it on their exposure to rap music and demand that all radios and such-like, should be banned from The Meadows with immediate effect."

Probably a boat going past, trailing countless yards of braid and accumulated debris in its wake, then tangling around the legs of the goose. I've been snagged by boats countless times on the Trent, often when the boat has gone well past me.

I seem to remember seeing a photo several years ago, of two anglers holding a catfish that was estimated at 200 pounds. It was published in several national newspapers as well as the angling press and I'm sure it looked considerably bigger than that.

The ET also printed a "Factfile" on several reported poaching incidents over the last month, where the culprits were almost certainly foreign nationals. These people were setting longlines as well as using nets, so the fish were obviously being caught to eat (one group was even caught setting up a barbecue). On the other hand, there was a group of English crooks from Boston, who were setting nets in local pits and stealing the fish to sell for re-stocking purposes.

Classic. This really ought to go into a special section all of its own Thanks for that. After a crappy week that's really cheered me up

Nice dace.

Small hands... those were the words I was looking for

That's made me feel really guilty now. That's the average size on many stretches of the Welland and I used to use fish that size as livebaits (I don't do it any more). p.s. I think it's only about 7 ounces - unless you have truly colossal hands :-)

Purely by coincidence, my sister phoned me last night to ask if I knew how to do anything about her wireless broadband signal, which was virtually grinding to a halt. Guess what system she has? You've guessed it. I suggested that she tries unplugging it for an hour. as mentioned on here, otherwise, it looks as if it's time for another go at BT.

If by OK you mean "the worst website you've ever seen in your life", then I think you've pretty much succeeded. Have you negotiated some kind of £1 per click deal?

Does carrying a gun make your willy get bigger?

I can only think that there is some kind of capacitor in the device that needs to be left long enough to totally discharge the stored up power. It is probably designed like that to retain certain settings in the event of a power failure or possibly when changing batteries (assuming there is one in there somewhere). If you have never had problems with BT then you should be very thankful, but heed my advice all the same and ask for a record number for every single time you need to contact them. If not, they will deny all knowledge of the event and you won't have a leg to stand on.

Mrs Claire Heaton Assistant to the Chairman and Chief Executive BT Correspondance Centre Providence Row Durham DH98 1BT email cceo@bt.com

I've been helping somebody who had this problem for five years. She wasted countless hours on phone calls to a call centre in India, where they all seemed to be reading from the same script. BT continually refused to acknowledge a problem and she came to assume that to have either no internet access or dial-up speeds on 8mb broadband was normal. In the end, I got hold of the email address of Claire Heaton, who is the PA to the BT chairman and lo and behold, an engineer was sent round, who finally confirmed that the Home Hub was faulty. She naturally demanded compensation, but BT claimed they had no records of any calls that she had made and offered her a derisory 6 months free broadband. I copied in Otelo on all of the complaints I made to her and also Troubleshooter at The Times, but in the end, Otelo admitted that without proof of all the complaints dating back five years, there was nothing more they could do. My advice is to complain like mad and demand a call reference number every single time you complain, or better still, do it in writing, with a copy to Otelo. I will post Claire Heaton's email address when I have retrieved it from my computer at work.

If anything it would be the other way round, i.e. carp ingest the weed when eating snails and other creatures within it. In my entire life, I have never once witnessed a carp deliberately eating weed. I know of plenty of waters with terrible weed problems, which are absolutely stuffed with carp. I suggest that whatever makes weed disappear on some waters, it has absolutely nothing to do with the carp.

The only way carp could ever clear weed is by causing so much suspended silt that it cuts off all of the light and coats the leaves. In a river with any kind of flow at all it couldn't possibly make a difference. If only carp really could reduce the amount of weed! The lower reaches of both the Welland and the Nene have good heads of carp, but weed is a huge problem on both of these rivers. The lower Welland is so choked up with it that fishing is only possible in the stretch that runs through Spalding. Anywhere above that, you could almost use the weed to walk across it in the summer.

Has anyone got one knocking about somewhere that they'd like to sell me? Must be in good nick though.